Ellington Academy
by The 1000th Kiss
Summary: It's 1932 and the bohos are making a change.
1. Chapter 1

**I am attempting a historical fiction piece now. Taking ya'll back to the 1930s. Hold on, it's gonna be a wild ride.**

**I own nothing but the plot line. The Almighty Larson owns the rest.**

Tom Collins walked out of Hamilton High School with a smile on his face. Another successful school year had been completed. And not just _any _year, his junior year. That meant he only had one more year of high school to go before he could meet his goal: graduation. If he could keep his grades up, which he didn't see as a problem at all, he would be the first person in his family to graduate high school. He could already picture himself receiving his diploma.

"Tom!" a voice called, interrupting Tom's thoughts. He turned to see his friend, Joanne Jefferson, running toward him, holding her books to her chest. "Tom, wait for me!" Once Joanne caught up with him, she held one of the books she was carrying out to him. "Thanks for letting me borrow it."

"No problem," Tom replied with a smile. "You know, you're the only girl I know who can run that fast in a skirt." The two shared a laugh.

"Walk me home?"

"You shouldn't ask me that." Joanne frowned.

"And why not?" she asked.

"You know the whole town thinks I'm sweet on you," Tom told her, causing her to giggle. "But since we're next door neighbors, I guess I could walk you home."

"Or you could let _me _walk her home," Benny Coffin said, appearing beside them. He smiled at Joanne. "Hey there, Joanne. Can I carry your books for you?"

"Um . . . I guess," Joanne replied, blushing slightly as Benny took her books out of her arms.

"Benny walkin' you home is a bad idea too," Tom said. "Everybody thinks _he's _sweet on you and we're fightin' over you."

"Please, that wouldn't be a fair fight," Benny commented.

"I know. I'd hate to embarrass you in front of the whole town." Joanne giggled and Benny gave Tom a playful shove. The three of them walked in silence for a while.

"Can you believe we only have _one more year _left?" Joanne asked.

"It's too good to be true," Benny replied.

"I'm actually gonna be a little sad when high school's over," Tom admitted. "I mean, after that, we're all gonna go our separate ways, get jobs, have families of our own, and hopefully meet up one day when our kids go to Hamilton High."

"You got it all figured out, don't ya?" Benny asked rhetorically. Collins chuckled as Joanne tensed up. She stared straight ahead and refused to look in any other direction.

"You okay, Joanne?" Tom asked in a concerned tone.

"Old Man Johnson's place is coming up," Joanne told him. "On your left." Tom and Benny glanced up ahead.

"He's on his porch with his shot gun today," Benny pointed out. Mr. Johnson was the most hateful and most racist man in town. He never missed an opportunity to put a person down because of their skin color, heritage, or both. He often sat on his porch from dawn to dusk with his shot gun, hoping a person of color would accidently step on his property.

"Just don't look at him and keep movin'," Tom told his friends. "Joanne, you stay in the middle of me and Benny." Joanne nodded as they kept walking. Mr. Johnson stood up and came off of his porch as the three of them passed his house.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Stay away from property, you low class pieces of shit!"

"Keep movin'," Tom said again.

"Next time you come by here I just might use this on you!" Mr. Johnson shot his gun in the air, causing Joanne to squeal. He continued shouting profanities and slurs after them even after they were sure they were out of his sight.

"What makes that man so mean?" Joanne wondered out loud.

"A question that's gone years without an answer," Benny replied.

The three friends walked through neighborhood after neighborhood in almost complete silence. When they finally reached their own neighborhood, Benny gave Joanne her books back and went a separate way than she and Tom, waving goodbye to them as he headed to his home. Tom walked Joanne to her front door and waited for her to go inside before crossing the front yard to get to his house.

"Ma, Dad!" he called as he walked in the front door of the small house. He walked to the family room and placed his books in his father's armchair. "I'm home!" His ten-year-old brother, Jordan, and eight-year-old sister, Sherri, came running up to him and hugged him tightly.

"Hi, Tom!" they chorused. Tom chuckled and picked his siblings up, hugging them at the same time.

"Where's Ma?" Tom asked as he put Jordan and Sherri back on the floor. The two exchanged looks and ran from the room. When they returned, they were making sure their pregnant mother, Sharon, didn't fall as they helped her to the couch.

"Wait," she said to her youngest children. "Tommy, come give me a hug. 'Cause once I sit down, I ain't gettin' back up." Tom laughed and crossed the room to hug Sharon.

"I'll take it from here," Tom told Jordan and Sherri after the hug ended. He wrapped an arm around his mother's waist and led her to the couch where she sat down slowly. "They fightin' today, Ma?"

"Not now." Sharon rubbed her stomach as Tom sat on the couch beside her.

"Mamma, when you have the babies, are you gonna stop waddlin' like a duck?" Sherri asked, causing Sharon to laugh.

"Yes I will." She reached for Tom's hand and gave it a squeeze. "It's about time for your daddy to come home. Why don't ya'll go wait for him on the porch?" Jordan and Sherri rushed out of the room. Sharon sighed as she let go of Tom's hand.

"You okay, Mamma?" he asked.

"I've just been feelin' bad about the babies," Sharon replied. "Havin' 'em, I mean."

"Well, there's no turnin' back now. You're seven months pregnant."

"I know and Robert's barely makin' enough money to take care of the kids he already has. Now, I'm bringin' two more into the world." Tom took his mother's hand.

"You shouldn't feel bad about performin' a miracle, Mamma," he said. "Besides, Dad played a big part in this too." Sharon giggled and Tom kissed her on the cheek.

"We've got bills on top of bills and our children are clingin' to my legs," Robert, Tom's father, said as he walking into the family room with Jordan holding onto one of his legs and Sherri holding on to the other. They were giggling.

"Jordan, Sherri, get off of your father's legs," Sharon told her children. The two giggling kids obeyed her. "How was work today, honey?" Robert sighed and put the mail he had in his hand on the coffee table.

"I had a crazy day," he said. "First, I had to fix a machine and I didn't have the slightest clue of how it worked or what I was doin'. Then, on my lunch break, my boss came and told me he needed to talk to me, so that killed my appetite. And the day ended with me gettin' promoted to a supervisor position that came with a raise." Robert smiled as his wife's eyes widened.

"That's great news!" she exclaimed. "I'd get up to kiss you, but I can't at the moment!" Robert laughed, walked over to the couch, and gave Sharon a kiss.

"Congratulations, Dad," Tom said. Jordan and Sherri clung to their father's legs again. Robert picked his children up and hugged them as Sharon picked up the four envelopes he had just placed on the table.

"Water bill, gas bill, light bill," she said putting the envelopes back on the table as she looked at them. The last envelope was from Hamilton High School. "Tom, you didn't get into any trouble recently, did you?"

"No ma'am," Tom replied. "Why?"

"We got a letter from your school." Robert put Jordan and Sherri down, moved Tom's books from his chair to the table, and sat down in it as Sharon opened the envelope.

"Ooh!" Jordan said. "Tom's in trouble! Tom's in trouble!" Sherri giggled and was silenced by a stern look from Tom.

"What's it say, Ma?" Tom asked.

"'Dear Mr. and Mrs. Collins,'" Sharon read aloud. "'As you may already know, we have been searching for ten students to bring diversity to . . . Ellington Academy next school year.'" Sharon looked up from the letter for a moment.

"The white school?" Robert asked.

"I guess so." Sharon went back to reading. "'After a discussion with the principal and superintendent of Ellington Academy, it has been confirmed that your son is a perfect candidate. He has shown intelligence, kindness, integrity, and much more.' Well, we already knew that." Tom smiled at his mother and waited for her to continue. "'We would like to meet with all ten of the students who have been chosen and their families next Wednesday to discuss what will happen to them as a part of this experience. Students _do_ have the power to decide not to take part in this attempt at integrating Ellington Academy, but are strongly encouraged to do so in the event that an opportunity like this will not come again for quite a long time. Hope to see you at the meeting. Sincerely, William Barnes, principal of Hamilton High School.'"

"They want me to go to Ellington Academy?" Tom asked as Sharon folded the letter.

"It seems that way, honey."

"I don't care what they want him to do," Robert said. "My son's not goin' to a white school." Tom and Sharon exchanged looks.

"Maybe we should think about this first," Sharon suggested.

"There's nothin' _to _think about. He's not goin' and that's that." Robert stood up and started to leave the room.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Tom asked, causing his father to stop walking. He turned and gave Tom a slight glare. "Dad, what if I'm supposed to do this?"

"You're not _supposed _to and you're not _going _to!"

"They're trying to integrate a school and you don't want me to help?"

"You know damn well those white kids'll eat you alive and I'm not gonna throw you to the wolves!"

"Robert, Tom's right," Sharon said. "Integrating that school could bring some change to this town. It could be a good opportunity for him."

"I _know _what's good for him and that's keepin' his ass at Hamilton High!"

"Robert, you're bein' unreasonable right now."

"Dad, I'd be doin' somethin' good," Tom told his father."What if integrating Ellington Academy causes a whole slew of schools to start integrating?" Robert stared at Tom for a long while.

"Black kids and white kids goin' to school together?" he said. He shook his head. "Boy, get your head outta the clouds. That ain't ever gonna happen."

Robert left the room without waiting for a response.

**Review please.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Next chapter. That is all.**

**I own nothing but the plot line. The Almighty Larson owns the rest.**

When Tom woke up the next morning, his father was heading out the door. He had been told that he had to come in to work early after he'd received his promotion. Tom locked the door after Robert walked out of it before going into the kitchen to find something to make for breakfast. He quickly figured out that he could make eggs and toast, but that was all the breakfast food they had. Sharon came into the kitchen with the help of Jordan and Sherri as Tom put two slices of bread in the toaster.

"Mornin'," Tom greeted his mother and siblings. Sharon smiled at her oldest child.

"Did your father already leave?" she asked, opening the small refrigerator and taking a carton of orange juice out of it. She then waddled to a cupboard and opened it as Jordan and Sherri left the kitchen.

"Yes, ma'am," Tom told her. "A little while ago." Sharon nodded and stood on her toes to try to reach the glasses in the cupboard.

"I think I'm shrinking." Tom chuckled, took a glass out of the open cupboard, and gave it to his mother. "Thank you, sweetheart." The toast popped up as Sharon poured some orange juice in the glass and put the carton back in the refrigerator.

"Mom, I've been thinkin'," Tom said, opening another cupboard and taking a plate out of it. He took the toast out of the toaster and put it on the plate.

"About?" Sharon asked, sipping her orange juice.

"Ellington Academy. I know Dad doesn't want me to go, but for some reason, I feel like I'm supposed to. Like it's my destiny to help with this integration."

"You really believe in this, don't you?" Tom nodded and Sharon sighed. "Well . . . I could _try _talking with your father again, but I can't promise-" Tom cut her off by hugging her.

"Thanks, Mamma!" he exclaimed.

"Tom, I can't promise anything," Sharon said as Tom released her from the hug. "You know once your father's mind is made up, it takes a miracle for anybody to get him to change it." Tom nodded, picked up a piece of toast, and bit it as Jordan and Sherri came back into the kitchen.

"Hey, Tom," Jordan called, on the verge of laughter. Sherri was beside him, giggling. "Your girlfriend's at the door." Tom rolled his eyes and left the kitchen, his piece of toast still in his hand. Jordan and Sherri followed him to the door. Joanne was standing on the porch.

"Come on in," Tom told his friend, opening the screened door for her. She stepped into the house and Tom shut the door before leading her to the family room with Jordan and Sherri close behind. He finished his toast as they sat down on the couch. "So, what brings you here?"

"I thought we could spend our first day of summer vacation together," Joanne replied, smiling slightly. Tom smiled back at her.

"Tom and Joanne sittin' in a tree," Sherri teased as Sharon entered the family room.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Jordan added. The two of them started laughing, earning a glare from their older brother.

"Stop teasin' your brother," Sharon scolded her two young children. "Ya'll go wait in the kitchen. I'll be in a minute to fix you some breakfast." Jordan and Sherri did as they were told.

"I can make them breakfast, Mamma," Tom volunteered.

"Not when you have company." Sharon looked at Joanne and smiled. "Hi there, Joanne."

"Good morning, Mrs. Collins," Joanne replied.

"What brings you over here?"

"Well, I thought Tom, Benny, and I could spend the first day of vacation together." Sharon's smile grew wider.

"That sounds like a lovely idea."

"Don't you need some help around the house, Mamma?" Tom asked his mother.

"I'm pregnant, Tommy, not paralyzed. Besides, you haven't gone out with your friends for a long time. Go have fun." Tom nodded, kissed his mother on the cheek, and headed up the stairs to his room to change his clothes.

* * *

><p>"So, what should we do today?" Tom asked as he and Joanne walked to Benny's house. Joanne thought for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.<p>

"I'm not sure just yet," she replied.

"Well, we'll figure it out once we get Benny." Joanne nodded and the two friends walked in silence for a short while. Tom walked a little closer to Joanne.

"Tom?" Joanne said, looking at the sidewalk.

"Yeah?" Tom replied.

"Do you ever feel obligated to . . . you know."

"No, I can't say I do."

"Obligated wasn't the right word anyway. I meant to say pressured."

"Pressured to do what exactly?"

"You know . . . date each other." Joanne looked up at Tom, whose expression was hard to read.

"Oh," he said.

"Do you?"

"Sometimes I feel a little pressured. I mean, with everybody sayin' how cute of a couple we'd be, it's hard not to feel that way."

"True." Another silence passed between them. "Do you ever think about . . . how it'd be?"

"Um . . . I _have _thought about it before."

"How'd thinking about it make you feel?"

"I don't really know." They made eye contact and quickly looked away from one another. Tom slowly turned his attention back to Joanne, who still wasn't looking at him, and took her hand in his. Joanne looked down at their hands and studied their intertwined fingers. She then looked up at Tom and they smiled at each other.

When they arrived at Benny's house, they heard shouting. They hesitated before walking onto the porch. Tom knocked on the door and waited. After a while, the door opened and the shouting was louder. Benny stood in the doorway. He looked like he'd been crying.

"Hey, you guys," he said softly.

"Hey," Tom and Joanne replied.

"What's goin' on?"

"We were wonderin' if you wanted to hang out today," Tom told his friend.

"I don't wanna talk about this anymore!" Benny's mother shouted. "This conversation is over!"

"It ain't over 'til _I _say it's over!" Benny's father yelled. Benny winced as a door slammed. Tom and Joanne's eyes widened as they watched Mr. Coffin appear behind their friend. "BENNY!" Benny turned around to face his father.

"Yes, sir?" Benny said somewhat timidly.

"You comin' in or goin' out?"

"He's coming with us, Mr. Coffin," Joanne answered for her friend.

"Then shut that goddamn door! Now!" Benny quickly stepped onto the porch and shut the door. The shouting resumed as the three friends walked away from the house.

"What're your parents arguin' about now?" Tom asked once they were a safe distance away.

"Everything . . . nothin' . . . whatever they can find," Benny replied. He shook his head. "I accidentally left _one dish_ unwashed last night and they got into an argument about it. I can't take it anymore."

"If you want, I can see if you can stay at my house tonight."

"Thanks, Tom." Benny smiled at Tom before noticing he and Joanne were holding hands. "So, it _finally _happened, huh?"

"What?" Joanne asked.

"You and Tom are a thing now?" Tom and Joanne looked down at their hands. They slowly pulled them apart. "You don't have to stop being all couple-like. Go ahead!"

"It'll be awkward with you staring at us," Joanne said.

"Whatever. So, what're we doin' today?" Joanne shrugged her shoulders. "Well we gotta do _somethin'. _We can't just walk around. That's how people like us get arrested."

"I know!" Tom exclaimed. "We can go get ice cream! Nothin' says 'summer' like ice cream, right?"

"But none of us have money," Joanne pointed out.

"Yeah, and I'm not goin' back to my house to get any," Benny added.

"We don't _need _money," Tom told his friends. "We can get it for free."

"Where?" Joanne asked.

"Mr. Larson's ice cream shop. I've been goin' there to get ice cream ever since my mom got pregnant. He said if I ever came in to get ice cream for myself, he wouldn't make me pay."

"Maybe he was jokin' around with you," Benny suggested.

"No, he was bein' serious. I asked him."

"Ice cream it is then," Joanne said. "Where's the shop, Tom?"

"It's on the other side of town." Joanne and Benny exchanged looks. "What's wrong?"

"You mean the white part of town?" Benny asked.

"Come on, Benny, don't say that. There's no white and black part of town. It's just a town and we're goin' to the other side of it. We can go wherever we want to in our hometown. It's a free country."

"Yeah, for white people."

"Benny-"

"He's right, Tom," Joanne said. "Those people probably don't want us over there. And what if we run into someone who's not afraid to tell us so?"

"Like Old Man Johnson," Benny added.

"We're not gonna run into Old Man Johnson," Collins assured them. "We'll be fine. Ya'll know I'd never let ya'll do anything if I know it's a bad idea. Just trust me on this. I've been goin' to Mr. Larson's shop for seven moths now." Joanne and Benny exchanged looks again.

"You're _sure _it's safe?" Joanne asked. Tom nodded.

"One hundred percent safe?" Benny added.

"It's completely safe," Tom replied. "Trust me."

**Review please.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothing but the plot line. The Almighty Larson owns the rest.**

Joanne and Benny walked as close to Tom as they possibly could as they walked through the part of town that was unfamiliar to them. Sensing that his friends were a bit afraid, Tom wrapped one of his arms around Benny's shoulders and the other around Joanne's waist. The faces of the people they passed were either confused, angry, or a combination of both. Tom tried not to let the looks they were receiving bother him.

"Tom, we don't belong here," Benny whispered.

"We'll be fine," Tom assured his friend.

"Are you sure?" Joanne asked quietly. Tom simply nodded. He wasn't actually sure if they _would _be fine, but he felt that panicking wouldn't help them much. The three friends walked in silence and avoided making eye contact with anyone until their destination came into view.

"There it is," Tom said. Keeping his arms around his friends, he led them into the small shop. The second they walked in the door, they attracted the attention of the four customers that were standing next to the counter inside. There were two boys and two girls and they were all holding ice cream cones. They looked about the same age as Tom, Joanne, and Benny. Both of the boys were blonde, but one had short hair and glasses while the other had longer hair and no glasses. The two girls didn't have the same color hair. One had long, dark brown curls and the other had short red hair. All four of them had two things in common though. They all had pale skin and somewhat shocked expressions on their faces.

Both sets of friends stared at each other for a long moment.

"Come on," the long-haired boy said as he grabbed the red-haired girl's hand. "Let's get out of here." The other boy grabbed the other girl's hand and the four of them made their way out of the shop as Tom, Joanne, and Benny moved away from the door. The three of them stood in silence for a short while.

"I told you we don't belong here," Benny said. Tom took his arms from around Benny and Joanne.

"Well, they didn't say anything bad about us, so we're okay," Joanne replied, trying to be positive. Tom smiled at her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, causing her to blush. Benny chuckled quietly as a man carrying two tubs of ice cream walked through a door that was behind the counter.

"Can I help you?" he asked, placing the ice cream tubs on top of the counter. The three friends watched as he slid the doors on the back of the counter open and took two empty ice cream tubs out of it.

"Hey, Mr. Larson," Tom greeted. Mr. Larson placed the empty tubs on top of the counter and smiled at Tom.

"Hi there, Tom. Did your mom send you here?"

"Not this time."

"Well, I guess I owe you a free cone then." Mr. Larson looked from Tom to Joanne and Benny. "I'm assuming these are your friends."

"Yes they are. This is my friend Benny and my . . . girlfriend Joanne." Tom reached for Joanne's hand and took it in his. It felt strange to be calling Joanne his girlfriend. They'd been best friends for as long as he could remember.

"Well, nice to meet you both," Mr. Larson said. "So, that's _three _free cones."

"You're _really _gonna give us free ice cream?" Benny asked.

"Of course."

"What's the catch?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Benny, there's no catch," Tom told his friend. He looked to Mr. Larson. "Sorry, he's a little paranoid about bein' on this side of town."

"I'm not paranoid! I just know we shouldn't be here!"

"And why exactly shouldn't you be in your own town?" Mr. Larson asked. Benny said nothing as Mr. Larson took the tubs of ice cream he had just brought out off of the counter and placed them where the empty tubs once were. He then slid the doors of the counter shut, took the empty tubs off of the counter, and placed them on the floor. Tom and Joanne took a step forward and Joanne accidentally kicked something that was on the ground. She looked down and saw that the item she had kicked was a purse.

"Mr. Larson, whose purse is this?" she asked as she let go of Tom's hand and picked up the purse.

"Oh, one of the girls that was in here before you three must've left it," Mr. Larson replied. He looked at the ice cream. "Oh darn. I'm out of mint." As Mr. Larson went to his backroom, the four teenagers that had left the shop not too long ago walked through the door. They stopped as soon as they noticed Tom, Joanne, and Benny were still in the shop.

"So _that's _why you came to our side of town," the long-haired boy said, noticing the purse in Joanne's hand. "You wanted to steal from innocent, unsuspecting people."

"I wasn't trying to steal anything," Joanne told him. "I just-"

"We don't need to hear any excuses," the red-haired girl interrupted.

"I wasn't trying to steal anything. I picked it up so I could give it to Mr. Larson and he could return it."

"A likely story!" the long-haired boy exclaimed, folding his arms across his chest.

"It's not a story!" Benny said in Joanne's defense. "It's the truth!" He started toward the boy.

"Cool it, Benny," Tom said, holding an arm out to stop Benny from walking any further. "Look, we don't want any trouble, okay?"

"If you don't want trouble, go back to where you people belong," the red-haired girl spat. Tom, Joanne, and Benny's eyes all widened.

"'You people?'" Joanne repeated.

"We have names, you know," Benny added.

"And your names are just as unimportant as you are," the long-haired boy told them. He glared at Joanne. "Especially _you, _you dirty thief." Tom gave the boy a hard shove.

"Don't talk to her like that!" he demanded. The boy shoved him back.

"Do you really think you can tell _me _what to do?"

"Don't argue with him, Roger," the red-haired girl told the boy. "He's not worthy of your words."

"Roger, April, that's enough," the boy with glasses said rather quietly. "Let's just get out of here."

"Not without Maureen's purse," Roger replied. Joanne slowly made her way toward Maureen. Tom walked with her, keeping his eyes on Roger the entire time.

"Here," Joanne said, holding the purse out to Maureen. The brunette took it and gave Joanne a small smile.

"Thanks," she replied. Joanne returned the smile as Mr. Larson returned to the front room with another tub of ice cream.

"Let's go," Roger told his friends. He took April's hand and walked out of the shop with the other boy following.

"What a creep," Benny commented. Maureen was still smiling at Joanne.

"Thanks for being honest," she said. "And I really like your hair. It's pretty."

"Oh, you're welcome," Joanne replied. "And thank you." Roger opened the door of the shop.

"Let's go, Maureen!" he shouted. Maureen quickly left the shop.

"Well, Tom, I hope you're happy," Benny said.

"'Happy?'" Tom repeated. "I'm everything _but _happy. I might have to go to school with them."

"Wait, you're not going to Hamilton High next school year?" Joanne asked.

"I might not be. My parents got a letter yesterday that said I'm a candidate to help integrate a school."

"My parents got a letter too!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

"So did mine," Benny said. "That's what they were arguin' about this morning."

"Are you talking about Ellington Academy?" Mr. Larson inquired.

"You heard about the integration?" Tom replied.

"Heard about it? There was nearly a riot when word got out it was being considered." Mr. Larson shook his head. "Everyone on this side of town is split up into three groups. People who don't want it to happen, people who are glad that change is coming, and people who just don't know how they feel about it."

"What group are _you _in?" Benny asked.

"I can't wait for the school to be integrated. I've gone to the Board of Education many, many times to plead for an integration of at least _one _school. Now, it's finally happening."

"I never thought a white person would be happy about this."

"Benny, you're just like my dad," Tom said. "Angry that change isn't happenin' fast enough, and then as soon as it _does _happen, you want people to be against it so you can keep bein' angry. You can't survive without somethin' to be mad at." Benny rolled his eyes. "Now, how 'bout that ice cream?"

"What flavors would you all like?" Mr. Larson asked.

"Joanne, you can go first since you're a lady." Joanne smiled at Tom.

"I'd like strawberry, please," she said.

"I'll take chocolate," Benny added.

"And I'll have-"

"Let me guess," Benny interrupted. _"Vanilla?"_

"No. I'll take chocolate _and _vanilla."

* * *

><p>After getting their free ice cream cones, the friends decided to go to the small park that was near their high school. They sat on the swings, ate their ice cream, and talked about how their parents reacted to the letters they received. Tom shared that his parents had opposing positions on the subject. Joanne's parents were very proud and were strongly considering letting her go to Ellington Academy. Benny wasn't exactly sure how his parents felt about it. When the letter came, they had argued about which one of them was going to tell Benny about it. Then they argued about whether or not they should go to the meeting. And somehow that argument escalated to Mr. Coffin accusing his wife of being unfaithful.<p>

The three friends talked things over and decided that if all three of them couldn't go to Ellington Academy, then none of them would. Tom and Benny made a deal to have a talk with their parents to try to convince them to consider at least going to the meeting. Before long, it was getting dark. Tom and Joanne walked Benny back to his house and wished him good luck before joining hands and starting their walk to their homes.

"Do you think Benny will be okay?" Joanne asked Tom as they walked.

"I hope so," Tom replied. "If not, he knows my parents wouldn't turn him away if he needed to stay with us. I'd give him my room if I had to."

"You're a saint, Tom." Their houses soon came into view. Tom walked Joanne to the front door of her house and the two of them stood in silence on the porch for a moment. Slowly, Tom put his hands on both sides of Joanne's face and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss lasted for about five seconds.

"Joanne?" Tom said as he stared into Joanne's eyes. "Did you . . . feel anything?"

"Honestly . . . no," Joanne replied. Tom removed his hands from Joanne's face and the two of them stared at each other in confusion.

"A couple's first kiss is supposed to be . . . magical, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Maybe this is a sign that's showing us we're not supposed to be a couple."

"Maybe." Tom held his hand out to Joanne. "Friends?" Joanne smiled at him and shook his hand.

"Friends."

**Review please.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I own nothing but the plot line. The Almighty Larson owns the rest.**

Tom stood with his mother and father outside of the school's small auditorium. His younger siblings had been taken to their grandparents' home until the meeting ended. Tom watched other students and their parents walk toward the auditorium as he periodically looked to both ends of the hallway to see if Joanne or Benny were approaching.

"Why are we here?" Robert asked. He sounded a bit annoyed.

"You already know why we're here," Sharon said to her husband. "We promised Tom we'd come to the meeting. Now, behave yourself."

"I'm not makin' any promises." Sharon sighed and rolled her eyes. Even though he knew his father wasn't happy in the least, Tom was happy that he had been able to convince him to agree to go to the meeting. As he continued to look up and down the hallway, he saw Joanne walking toward the auditorium with her parents right behind her. The two friends smiled at each other. When they finally reached the group that had formed in front of the auditorium, Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson began talking with Tom's parents.

"Have you seen Benny yet?" Joanne asked Tom.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Tom replied. "Do you think his parents changed their minds at the last minute?" Joanne shrugged and she and Tom looked in opposite directions for a long moment. She watched as Benny and his parents walked around the corner.

"He's coming," she told Tom, who immediately turned his attention to where Joanne was looking. Their friend was walking in the middle of his parents with his head down. Mr. and Mrs. Coffin seemed to be trying to avoid making eye contact with each other. When Benny finally lifted his head and saw his friends, he practically ran to them. They enveloped him in a hug.

"How's everything today?" Tom asked as he and Joanne released Benny from the hug.

"They fought the whole way here," Benny replied. He looked to his parents. They still weren't looking at each other. "I don't get why they're still together. They obviously aren't in love anymore."

"Maybe they're trying to make it work for your sake," Joanne suggested. Benny looked at Joanne and opened his mouth to say something, but shut it when he saw two Hispanic students (a boy and a girl) walking toward the auditorium with a Caucasian woman between them.

"Who are they?" he wondered out loud. Tom and Joanne turned their attention to the three people who had just walked into the building. The girl had long, somewhat curly brown hair and walked with confidence, the boy had very short black hair and seemed timid, and the woman that was with them had chin length hair. She kept her arm around the boy as if she was protecting him from something. As the three of them walked past Tom, Joanne, and Benny, Tom and the boy locked eyes for a short while.

"I've seen them around the school," Tom told his friends. "They always keep to themselves. Like they don't have any friends."

"Well, who's the woman with them?" Joanne asked.

"That, I don't know." The door of the auditorium opened and everyone turned to it at the same time. Mr. William Barnes, the principal of Hamilton High School, made a motion for everyone to enter the auditorium and, very slowly, everyone did so. Tom, Joanne, and Benny found seats together in the small auditorium, forcing their parents to also find seats together. Once everyone had a seat, Mr. Barnes stood on the small stage in the front of the auditorium and faced the twenty students and their parents.

"Thank you all for coming," he began. "I cannot convey to you how incredible this opportunity is. When I was contacted about integrating Ellington Academy, I could hardly believe it. I never thought I'd live to receive a phone call like that. After I hung up, I had a small meeting with all the teachers and asked them if they had any suggestions on which students would gain the most from this experience as well as perform well under pressure. I received a list of students from practically every last one of the teachers and, through a very difficult elimination process, I narrowed it down to twenty. I would like to congratulate all of you on making it this far and hope you will see this through to the end."

"How safe will the children be?" a random parent asked.

"They will be escorted to and from the school."

"What about _inside _the school?"

"Well . . . if things begin to get violent, we will have local police officers standing by to answer that call. Meaning, they will then escort the students around the school to ensure they get to all their classes safely. I'm confident it won't come to that though."

"You want to send our kids to an all white school and you really think they won't need police protection?" Robert asked. There was a hint of anger in his voice. Tom smacked his palm against his forehead. All of the parents were soon shouting at Mr. Barnes.

"People, calm down!" the principal pleaded. The parents quieted a bit. "Okay, I'm going to ask all of the students to step out into the hall for a moment." Tom, Joanne, and Benny were the first to stand. They led the rest of the students out into the hall. As soon as the auditorium door was closed, the students broke into separate groups and began talking about the integration.

"I _knew _my dad would say something," Tom told his friends. "He promised _before we left _that he'd hear what Mr. Barnes had to say before he said anything."

"He's only concerned about your safety," Joanne assured him.

"Am I the only one who's still wonderin' about the white lady?" Benny asked.

"That's our mom," the Hispanic girl said. The three friends turned to see her walking toward them. The Hispanic boy walked with her, but stayed behind her.

"Your mom?" Joanne replied. The girl nodded.

"We're adopted."

"A white lady adopted you?" Benny asked. "That doesn't seem right."

"Not all white people are racist," the boy said softly. He was staring at the floor. Tom walked closer to him, put his hand under the boy's chin, and lifted his head. They locked eyes again.

"Say that again," he told the boy as he brought his hand back down to his side. The boy kept his eyes on Tom.

"Not all white people are racist," he repeated. Tom flashed him a smile and he blushed.

"So, what are your names?" Joanne asked.

"I'm Mimi and this is Angel," the girl said. She shook hands with three friends and Angel did the same, holding on to Tom's hand longer than necessary.

"I'm Joanne. This is Tom and this Benny." Joanne gestured toward her friends. "Do you mind me asking what happened to your birth parents?"

"They died when we were very young. We don't even really remember them."

A few moments later, the students were called back into the auditorium. They all sat in the same seats they had been in before they left the auditorium. Tom couldn't focus on what the principal was saying. He heard tidbits of information about uniforms and making sure everyone had at least one other student from Hamilton High in every one of their classes, but other than that he gave his undivided attention to Angel. He spent the rest of the meeting staring at him and smiling whenever he looked at him. He was having feelings that he could explain and didn't quite understand.

He recalled another time he'd felt such feelings toward another boy. It had been a few days after Sherri was born. He was visiting his mother and baby sister in the hospital and boy around his age went out of his way to find him at least seven times just to smile at him. Tom never saw the boy again after he left the hospital, but he often wondered who he was and where he could find him.

After the meeting ended, Tom, Joanne, and Benny's parents all discussed their thoughts on the information they had heard. Joanne and Benny were worried about their parents' decision, but Tom's mind was still on Angel and the unidentifiable feelings he'd had during the meeting. He was beginning to think he could be attracted to Angel. But that was wrong, wasn't it? He had been taught at an early age that boys were supposed to be attracted to girls, not other boys. Yet, as he watched Angel leave with his sister and mother, he felt butterflies in his stomach.

"Have ya'll ever heard of a boy . . . bein' attracted to another boy?" Tom asked his friends. He made sure his voice was quiet so only Joanne and Benny could hear him.

"I have, but it's not normal," Benny answered. Tom's face fell.

"It's not?"

"Nope."

"I've heard of it too, but I disagree with Benny," Joanne said. "I think if a boy is happy being in a relationship with another boy, then nobody should question it. Same thing with a girl being with another girl." Tom smiled at Joanne. "Why'd you ask?"

"I was just wonderin'," Tom replied.

"No, you weren't," Benny said. "You asked for a reason. Now, what is it?"

"It's nothin'. I just . . . maybe that's the reason I didn't feel anything when I kissed Joanne. I think . . . I like boys."

**Review please.**


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